Player mechanism for pianos.



W. F. COOPER.

PLAYER MECHANISM FOR PIANOS.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 21 1, 1 33,7 1 O.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

THE NORRIS PETERS CV1, FHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. D, C

W. F. COOPER.

PLAYER MECHANISM FOR PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED APE.21, 1914.

Patented M31230, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET? THE NORRIS PETERS co, PHowLITHQ. WASHINGION. D. c.

WILLIAM F. COQPER, OF NORWALK, OHIO.

PLAYER MECHANISM FOR PIANOS.

Application filed April 21, 1914.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1Q15.

Serial No. 833,375.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, lVILLIAM F. COOPER, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Norwalk, in the county of Huron and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player Mechanism for Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to player mechanism for pianos, and more particularly to treadle-supporting doors for mechanicallyoperated pianos, the main object being to provide a treadle-supporting door so constructed, and so connected to a piano case, that the treadle mechanism and the door may be readily folded up to fill an opening in the front of the case, and thus become a part of said front, serving to conceal the treadle mechanism within the case.

A further object of the invention is to provide a treadle-door for player-pianos with novel means for connecting it to the piano-case, said means being adapted to be folded up and concealed within the case by the upward movement of the door.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a player-piano with folding treadle mechanism and a swinging tracker boX, the latter being so connected to the foldable door or front of the piano, and to the treadle mechanism that the raising of the door to closed position operates to simultaneously fold up the treadle, and swing the trackerboX to inoperative position below the keyboard.

The invention consists broadly of a treadle-door and means for connecting it to a piano, said means being adapted tobe folded, and at the same time moved rearward within the case by the upward closing movement of said door.

The invention also inc udes various improvements in the details of the elements making up the door-connecting and guiding means; and their construction will be fully described hereinafter, in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, and the novel features of the invention will be set forth and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a sectional view of a part of a piano front with the improvement applied thereto, the latter being shown in elevation, the folded position of the parts being shown in dotted lines and their unfolded working position in full lines, Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view partly broken away on an enlarged scale, of a part of the link mechanism employed, Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a portion of a player-piano, with my improved treadlemechanism applied thereto, and illustrating a pivotally-supported tracker-box connected with the door and treadle mechanism, and, Figs. 1- and 5 are detail views showing respectively a top plan and a side elevation of a lever which may be employed for raising and lowering the treadle-supporting door.

The reference numeral 1 designates a portion of an upright piano case, the front 2 of which is provided with an opening 3 adapted to be closed by a treadle-supporting door 4, pivotally-secured at each side of the case between brackets 5 secured to the usual bellows 6 employed with player-pianos, and arranged within the case, between the pump 7 and movable bellows-board 8, of the type commonly used with this class of instruments. Upon the inner side of the door are secured pivot-blocks 9 upon which are pivotally supported the player treadles 10. Extending forward from the pump 7 to which they are secured, are parallel arms 11 (one at either side of the case), the forward ends 12 of which projectupward, and are perforated to serve as pivotal supports for the rear ends of links 13 formed with projecting stops 11 adapted to abut against the ends 12, to connect the links and arms in such manner as to prevent movement beyond a certain point in one direction and cause them to act together to operate the bellows. Between the forward ends of the two-part link 13 is piv otally secured as at 15, the rear end of a link 16 formed with a stop lug 17 to engage a pin 18 connecting the inner sides of the link 13. The forward end of the link 16 is pivotallysecured as at 19 to the treadle.

The operation of the mechanism constructed as above described will be readily understood. When the door 4 is in open position, the arms 11, treadle 10, and linkconneotions between said arm and treadle will all be in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, and the treadles will be ready for operating the playing mechanism. When it is desired to play manually, the entire treadle mechanism is compactly folded, and concealed within the case, by merely raising pianos,

the door 4, which causes the link 16 to turn on its pivotal support 15 until it swings down between the members of the twopart link 13, and rests against the arm 11. The further upward movement of the door elevates the treadle to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and simultaneously pushes the arm 11 rearward until the pivotal point on the end 12 of the arm is as shown in the dotted position in Fig. 1, and thus the treadle mechanism is out of the way and entirely concealed within the case, the closed door 4 taking the place of the removable front heretofore employed on player- The door as is obvious, may be quickly opened which automatically unfolds the treadles and their connections into operative position. The door is provided with buffer button 22 to serve as a stop for the treadle when the latter is in its folded position. While the opening and closing of the door 4 may be effected directly by hand, I preferably employ the lever and chain connections shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The bell-crank lever 22 is fulcrumed to the piano case at the point 23, and its longer arm is provided with a handle 24, while to the shorter arm 25 is secured one end of a chain 26. This chain is guided over pulleys 27 and 28 pivotally-mounted as shown, and its lower end is secured to the door 4 at any convenient point, so that by manipulating the lever, the door will be raised or lowered.

As shown in Fig. 3, the folding treadle mechanism above described may be connected to a swinging tracker-box, whereby the movement of the door will operate the treadle-mechanism and at the same time, swing the tracker-box to a position below the key-board out of the way of the player when the piano is to be played manually. The tracker-box 29 is provided with a rearwardly-extending arm 30, pivotally-secured to a bracket 31 depending below the keyboard 32. The rear end of this arm 30 is connected by a flexible connection 33 with the door 4, the chain or like connection 33 being guided over pulleys 34. It will be apparent that the tracker-box may thus be moved to folded position under the keyboard by the movement of the door, and that at the same time, the treadle will be folded up within the casing of the piano.

\Vhile the form of the invention herein shown and described is what is believed to be a preferred embodiment thereof, it is nevertheless to be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

That I claim is:

1. In a player mechanism for pianos, the combination with a piano case having an opening in its front, of atreadle door pivoted to the case and arranged to close said opening, a treadle having one end pivoted to said door, a player bellows including a movable board, an arm fixed to said movable board and provided with a stop, a link pivoted to said arm and provided with a stop cooperating with the first-mentioned stop at its pivoted end, said link being provided with a second stop at the remaining end, and a link connecting the remaining end of the last-mentioned link with the treadle and being provided with a stop cooperating with the last-mentioned stop.

2. In a player mechanism for pianos, the combination with a piano case having an opening in its front, of a treadle door pivoted to the case and arranged to close said opening, a treadle having one end pivoted to said door, a player bellows including a movable board, an arm fixed to said movable board and provided with a stop, a link pivoted to said arm and provided with a stop cooperating with the first-mentioned stop at its pivoted end, said link being provided with a second stop at the remaining end, a link connecting the remaining end of the last-mentioned link with the treadle and being provided with a stop cooperating with the last-mentioned stop, and manually operable means connected to said treadle board and arranged to close the same.

In testimony whereof I atfiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WVILLIAM F. COOPER.

lVitnesses AMBROSE B. BOWEN, MAE M. MACK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

